Also with eg dog territory, the boundary markers aren’t arbitrary—presumably the reason dogs piss on trees & lampposts, which are not physical thresholds, is (a) they provide some protection for the scent against being removed eg by rain; (b) they are (hence) standard locations for rival dogs to check for scent, rather than having to sniff vast areas of ground; ie they are (evolved) Schelling points for potential boundary markers.
(Walls are different as they are both potential boundary markers and physical thresholds.)
Do we know whether wolves really treat scent marks as boundary markers.
Some confusing things about wolf territoriality is they frequently honestly signal their locations through howling while trying (and imo failing?) to obfuscate their number in the way that they howl.
Also with eg dog territory, the boundary markers aren’t arbitrary—presumably the reason dogs piss on trees & lampposts, which are not physical thresholds, is (a) they provide some protection for the scent against being removed eg by rain; (b) they are (hence) standard locations for rival dogs to check for scent, rather than having to sniff vast areas of ground; ie they are (evolved) Schelling points for potential boundary markers.
(Walls are different as they are both potential boundary markers and physical thresholds.)
Do we know whether wolves really treat scent marks as boundary markers.
Some confusing things about wolf territoriality is they frequently honestly signal their locations through howling while trying (and imo failing?) to obfuscate their number in the way that they howl.
I don’t know; I had assumed so but maybe not